Noel Kelly agency owns Operation Transformation name, company filings show

Ryan Tubridy’s agent, Noel Kelly, is the owner of Operation Transformation, the name of the long-running high-profile TV and radio show broadcast by RTÉ, company filings show.

Mr Kelly is also cited in credits for having the “initial radio concept” for what became the TV programme, RTÉ has confirmed in documents supplied to the Oireachtas committees on Tuesday.

The health and fitness programme is an independent production which has been run by the national broadcaster on TV, radio and online since 2008, and is one of the station’s most popular programmes. It is presented by one of Kelly’s clients, Kathryn Thomas.

The role played by Mr Kelly in RTÉ and the fact that he represents so many of its top presenters is to be one of the key points to be explored when the agent and presenter Ryan Tubridy appear before two Oireachtas committees today. On Monday the new director general, Kevin Bakhurst, said he did not believe it was healthy for one agent to have too much power within an organisation.

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Filings in the Companies Registration Office show Operation Transformation is a registered business name and has been owned by Mr Kelly’s company, Century Merchandising Services Ltd, since September 2006. Both entities have their registered address at Mr Kelly’s business premises in Ballymount, Dublin 12.

In documents released by RTÉ on Monday evening to the Dail Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the broadcaster said it would be willing to disclose the contractual arrangements underpinning the arrangement between Mr Kelly and the show but it would require the permission of NK Management, another of Mr Kelly’s Ballymount companies, and Vision Independent Productions (VIP).

[ RTÉ Crisis: Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly due before two Oireachtas committees ]

VIP, the producer of Operation Transformation, is an independent company not associated with Mr Kelly. The RTÉ document released to the PAC said that Operation Transformation is produced by VIP but that Mr Kelly is cited in the credits and that the show is “in part” based on an item that originally ran on the Gerry Ryan radio show prior to its transition to a television, radio and online offering in 2008. Mr Kelly was an agent for the late Gerry Ryan.

The credits say “initial radio concept created by Noel Kelly,” the station said in its statement to the PAC, which is in response to a question as to whether any agents the station deals with have shares in shows contracted by RTÉ.

In 2011, Mr Kelly was reported as saying he came up with the idea of Operation Transformation for the Gerry Ryan radio show in 2006.

“I always come up with concepts and ideas for clients,” he told the Sunday Times. “I don’t just book PAs [personal appearances] for people. I try to develop someone’s career and, in this case, it was putting the right broadcaster with the right show.”

The comments came against the backdrop of a High Court case that ruled that Fiona Looney, a journalist and writer, was the originator of the idea for Celebrity Bainisteoir, a reality TV show in which celebrities coach Gaelic football teams.

Kelly said he saw Operation Transformation as a potential TV vehicle for Gerry Ryan. “From the start I wanted to knit together the radio show with a TV programme,” he said.

He argued that the TV show which was subsequently developed and presented by Thomas, was essentially the same as the original radio concept. “It’s still a group wanting to lose some weight and transform themselves.”